The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1887-03-09
AS A MACHINE.,'
DIR. EDWARDS. TALK LAsrsNion1

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DIR. EDWARDS. talk LAsTsNiGur
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at tho Y. NJ. Q. a. building ON this Iuterest.
Ing suhject-A beautiful and Practical
Short Tnlk, Embclllshed with Quo.
tations from n Wheeling Poet.
Dr.. T. 0. Edwards delivered the dis.
course in tho Y. NJ. @. A. building last
night, the weekly lecture In the course OF
short practical talks. Ills theme was
"Man as q Machine" The attendance
was, as usual, as large as the Associations
parlors could accommodate. Tho talk
was n Of tho most interesting and In.
atruCtive Of the course, and was at the
Same time couched in beautiful language.
Tho speaker first referred 10 the law OF
the conservation and correlation OF forces,
OF which no aaid: ~
What especially distinguishes this law
and lifts 1t to q plane above oil other laws
OF Nature is tho fact that It spans, In It's
great grasp, every order Of existence. It
reduces 10 shape and order tho primitive
chaos Of the universe, governs the move.
ments Of the heavenly bodies, concerns
itself with the insignificant phenomena Of
life upon our insignificant globe, swinging
systems Of planets in their spheres on the
one hand and on the other %springinv
flowers from the bosom Of tho earth. I
refer TO tho law OF conservation and cor.
relation Of force, that is, tho law that has
proven that force as well as matter is in.
deatructible, however much It may change
its form, and that all the forces, light,
heat, electricity, motion, etc., may be con.
verted the n into the other, quantity
for quantity, weight for weight, ATOM for
atom, in exact equivalents, no force being
ever created anew, except "a It came
originally from the will OF tho Great Gre.
ator, and no force ever being lost.
ITS BEARING on HUMAN LIFE.
We shall study this law tonight more
especially in its bearing upon human life,
and shall try to make 1t plain that what Is
known as life, or vital force, is part OF the
general store Of force in the universe Dor.
rowed for the time being from other phy.
steal forces, and being continually given
up again in the manifestations OF life, az
l n heat, motion, secretion, reproduction
and iutellsction.
1t ls now more than one hundred years
since 1t was known to sciance that matter
could not be destroyed. When we speak
Of the destruction OF matter; VIC refer
simply to the form Of tho matter, we cav
that matter is destroyed by fire, but when
we come to analyze the product we find
In the smoke, the gases and the ashes, pre-
c!seiy the same clements as before, wa
proceed to weigh these and discover only
pounds, ounces and grains, equal TO the
original weight. Fire has only changed
the form.
30 in the decay Of organic matter the
water, tho salts, the gases OF deconposi-
ton weigh exactly the same, in every par.
ticular. Pu!refaction h@ only changed the
form.
And so too OF creation; we Justly boas, OF
our manufactured products. But no inre.
nulty OF man has ever succeeded in Great.
ing masterianew ef nihi2 nihRf Auuihila.
ton and creation ofmatter by man Ia alike
impossible and unknown.
MATTER y FORCE TOGETHER,
Now 1t 10 known that there ia no mstter
without force. The force is not ALWAYS in
active operation. We have simply to
change the condition Of matter to awaken
aud make manifest its silent force. Force
IN operation Is known as actual iorcs:
that which is silent, at rest, latent or
sleeping, 80 to speak, is known rs poten.
tlsl force. The arrow speeding in tia
flight is actual force, willis the bent bow.
inspiring, represents latent or potential
force.
No force is ever lost. It may be changed
as 10 its direction or changed as to its
character, but IN some form or other II
perpetually reappears. To all the condi-
tions'of matter, heat, light, electricity.
chemical affinity and motion are mutually
convertible. Neither can be tho cause al
the other, but either con be converted into
the other. Each mode OF force is capable
OF producing the others, and any one of
them can be produced by the others. We
can best illustrate this by what takes place
by the operations Of various kinds OF ma
chlnery. In fact, machinery ia only a
means of changing the form of force,
Thus, in C. clock the wheels which eyesn
the hands around the dial plates arc re-.
volved by sinking weights. When the
Weights reach the floor Of the clock the
wheels cease to move; in other words, the
force OF gravity ceases to act. We must
hrSt raise the weights, or give tension to
the springs before the wheels will run.
This We do in winding up. The indiyid.
ual that winds a clock simply transiera
power from his muscular force, and pre.
ciaely 80 much rs Is thus transferred ia
again given up in the ensuing time that
the clock runs The clock in measurino
out time, creates or exhibits no new force'
It simply distributes a borrowed force |.
over q longer period OF time. The bnr.
rowed force: is that Of the muscle, which
receives it in turn from food containing
latent, the original force, from the Sun.
H LIVING ENGINE.
In the bodies Of animals, vegetables ara
kt,rrt ,1N st,1t m o1a1 = $1,000